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In this video, Erika Thornes gives an introduction to how to create a silhouette, from positioning of the camera to looking for light. She talks about how the silhouette photography course will go over how to set up your camera to take great silhouettes.

- [Female Instructor] Get the shot.…Silhouettes are awesome.…They're important as they will teach us…how to see things in a new way…and convey emotions solely through posing and composition.…The very first step is to position ourselves…and our subjects to create a silhouette.…You could almost use a string to pull a straight line…from the light, to the subject, to our camera.…Which, by the way, is completely opposite…of how we'd want to expose a normal photograph…which relies on light reflecting off our subject…and bouncing back into our camera to get a good exposure.…However the engineers design all cameras,…even the simplest point-and-shoot…to the most advanced to expose the subject…in the picture in the best light possible.…

The camera wants to meter to expose the subject…with a good range of light and dark.…But, you know, in silhouettes we…want the subject to be dark.…The camera on auto doesn't understand our intention…so we'll have to take it into our own hands.…But don't worry, it isn't too hard…to make these simple adjustments.…

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Released

3/17/2017

Sometimes shapes tell better stories than shadows. A silhouette of a person or object can be a powerfully expressive, graphical representation of a person or scene. Besides, silhouettes can be fun to shoot.

In this course, photographer Erika Thornes demonstrates shooting techniques for several kinds of silhouette scenarios, from people to trees and more. She explores the lighting conditions that work best for silhouettes, and shoots several examples. The course concludes with an exploration of post-processing techniques that accentuate shapes and bring out lighting.